Class Outline:

Wednesday May 18,2022

The sword that Paul chooses is the machaira which is the Roman short sword and not the long sword. This small sword was the crucial offensive weapon in close combat.

 

EPH 6:17

And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

 

The word of God and the Holy Spirit are perhaps the most vital since without them we would be unable to know anything about the other parts of the armor, nor God Himself.

 

Do we each know what we have in the word of God?

 

Our personal faith in the word and Spirit brings truth to life within us.

 

We will expand on this initial point in several ways. We find that the word of God remains only text to us if we do not by faith obey the Spirit of God, the third member of the Trinity. We put our faith in Him and the word and by that faith obey the word and rejoice in the word as it comes alive to us. After all, God’s word is His loving and merciful communication to us. The word is alive, but it must be alive in our hearts through faith and obedience. Over the years, by exercising our faith as faithful sons and daughters and students of the Scripture, we will come to know God. Knowing God we will be able to use the sword of the Spirit to cut through lies, deceit, persecution, etc. with gentleness and grace.

 

The word of God that creates and the written word.

 

There was and is a word from God that has existed long ages before one letter was written down. God created the world with His word.

 

PSA 33:6-9

By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,

And by the breath of His mouth all their host.

7 He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap;

He lays up the deeps in storehouses.

8 Let all the earth fear the Lord;

Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.

9 For He spoke, and it was done;

He commanded, and it stood fast.

 

By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.

 

This means, not just that the voice of God is the most powerful force in nature, but that it is the only force in nature, for all the mass and energy of our seeming infinite universe is here only because of the word of God breathed out of His mouth.

 

We must not look at the Bible as something that God said long ago, but rather as what God is speaking to you and me right now and every day.

 

HEB 4:12

For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

 

The Bible will never be a living book to us until we are convinced that God is articulate now in His world to anyone who has ears to hear. We must believe that the words on the pages of the Bible are for us - every one of them, Old Testament and New. God is vocal to every life.

 

Because we tend to think of God in human terms, we can imagine a silent God suddenly began to speak in a book and when the book was finished, He lapsed back into silence again forever. We would then read the Bible as a record of what God said when He was articulate for a brief time. God is continually speaking in His word.

 

Related to this error is one of the schemes of the devil that has for many years tried to convince people that the Bible is for an older world, an old-fashioned world, and not applicable today. God speaks to us every day. As Jesus said, “He who has ears, let him hear.”

 

In Proverbs the lady teacher called wisdom continually speaks to mankind, entreating them to discernment of truth.

 

PRO 8:1-11

Does not wisdom call,

And understanding lift up her voice?

2 On top of the heights beside the way,

Where the paths meet, she takes her stand;

3 Beside the gates, at the opening to the city,

At the entrance of the doors, she cries out:

4 "To you, O men, I call,

And my voice is to the sons of men.

5 "O naive ones, discern prudence;

And, O fools, discern wisdom.

6 "Listen, for I shall speak noble things;

And the opening of my lips will produce right things.

7 "For my mouth will utter truth;

And wickedness is an abomination to my lips.

8 "All the utterances of my mouth are in righteousness;

There is nothing crooked or perverted in them.

9 "They are all straightforward to him who understands,

And right to those who find knowledge.

10 "Take my instruction, and not silver,

And knowledge rather than choicest gold.

11 "For wisdom is better than jewels;

And all desirable things can not compare with her.

 

We take a low and primitive view if we conceive God at creation coming into contact with matter and building and fitting it all together like a carpenter. Rather, “He spoke and it was done” (PSA 33:9). That voice still resounds throughout the universe and all over our world. No, it is not always audible, but it is evident in the things that have been made. God says:

 

ROM 1:20

For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.

 

This is not His written word but the breadth of God in word, of which we are too finite to fully define. God breathed and man became a living soul. God breathed and made the worlds. It is not that the universe is a soul. This is not pantheism. It is that God has always been and still is speaking to all people in this world, and some hear and some don’t.

 

PSA 139:7-12

Where can I go from Thy Spirit?

Or where can I flee from Thy presence?

8 If I ascend to heaven, Thou art there;

If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, Thou art there.

9 If I take the wings of the dawn,

If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,

10 Even there Thy hand will lead me,

And Thy right hand will lay hold of me.

11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will overwhelm me,

And the light around me will be night,"

12 Even the darkness is not dark to Thee,

And the night is as bright as the day.

Darkness and light are alike to Thee.